For those of you into such things...Here is a little one-shot by one of my favorite canon fanfiction authors on exactly what we have been talking about -- Carlisle does the taxes. It's both timely to the discussion and to the time of year. If you think it's complicated for you to do taxes, try being Carlisle Cullen. Here is the link.

theotherStephanie wrote:With the whole story line in Breaking Dawn about Jenks and providing falsified documents for Jacob and Renesmee, I had always assumed it was Jasper who was the identity expert in the family. Since Jasper always preferred to "finish" the documents himself, he certainly must know how to use computers to complete the actual documents and plant the corresponding info in the appropriate datebases.

Stephanie-I do think you're right, this is generally agreed upon. Jasper gets that role in a lot of fanfiction too. That must be what the basement was for??

Openhome wrote:...try being Carlisle Cullen.

Hehe, I just saw that one last night and it's on my list to read once I finish the chapter I am working on for What Drives Her.

I've kind of been stumped with Bella's hallucinations in New Moon. So what are the facts?

We know they are:Edward specificOnly pop up when she's under severe stress or mortal dangerThey are new to Bella They stop after she rescues EdwardThey are auditory and not visualEdward is surprised when Bella tells she had them

I just really have this feeling in my gut like these are explained somewhere in the script and I'm just not seeing it.Has someone who's read/studied the books more than me, caught anything?

We know that Bella is gifted with shield powers and that in BD she actually strengthens these.*

I'm kind of contemplating the fact that Bella was bitten by James, but not changed. And her scar is cool to the touch, like a vampire's skin, that this may have something to do with it. We don't know of anyone living that had been bitten but not changed or what effects could have on a human. Since it was Carlisle's idea to suck out the venom, we can assume that this "procedure" had been attempted before.

Also I'm thinking about Edward's whereabouts and the possibility that his powers enhanced during this time of separation, in New Moon. We don't know for a fact that Edward was in Rio. I really don't think he was such a terrible tracker, he thought Victoria was in South America when she was skittering around Washington.And these auditory hallucinations are basically a reversal of Edwards pre-existing ability: the ability to hear thoughts, up to a distance of 3 miles. The "hallucinations" are so true to what would be Edward's real thoughts, that it's hard to believe these are all just inventions of Bella's subconscious to deal with stress.

Is it too far fetched to think that Edward could have projected his thoughts to Bella?Which, if you've read Midnight Sun, you know how often Edward actually stalks her, and how difficult it is for him to be away from her. When at this time, after promising Bella that she'd never see him again, could he really leave her? We know that Bella never sees Edward. But according to Midnight Sun, Edward was around a lot and Bella didn't know it.Could he have possibly, been so desperate to protect her that his powers adapted to allow this?

He could not let her see him, but he could not let her die in the meadow.Alice never saw the Laurent confrontation, the wolves blocked her vision. And yet there was the Edward hallucination, to walk Bella thru it.

The monkey wrench in all of this is that Edward called Bella's house to check on her after Rosalie told him that Bella had jumped off cliff. If Bella's hallucinations were actually Edward's ability projecting his thoughts to her, he would have seen that Bella was ok, and would have had no reason to commit suicide.

There's gotta be a way this all fits together. Is it really just as simple as, *Bella couldn't deal so Bella's brain fixed it so she could???Is this a case of conspiracy theory; if you look for a conspiracy long enough, one will pop up?

r_godsey wrote:I've kind of been stumped with Bella's hallucinations in New Moon. (...)I just really have this feeling in my gut like these are explained somewhere in the script and I'm just not seeing it.Has someone who's read/studied the books more than me, caught anything?

I know Stephenie answered this question somewhere in one of the Personal Correspondences to the Lex or MySpace back in the early days. I will look for it, but in the meantime... as I recall it was simply attributed to good old-fashioned stress and heartache.

Not sure how many people have had auditory hallucinations to that degree, but I've heard of phantom noises and sounds happening to people who have experienced a trauma or are severly sleep deprieved. Even emotional strain can cause you to kinda lose it, like when you hear your baby cry in the middle of the night, or hear them when you walk out to get the mail, and then find that they are actually sound asleep.

No. So powerfully was Bella's subconscious knowledge trying to break through her wrong-headed notions, that it produced some very convincing delusions. I'm not surprised that people thought, in the beginning, that Edward was somehow there (wishful thinking on all our parts). However, I AM surprised that people continued to think this after a certain event that made it impossible to believe that Edward was aware of Bella's circumstances. Can you guess what it was? Laurent, in the meadow. If Edward had had any inkling of the fact that Victoria had returned for Bella, no matter how far away on the planet he was, he would have been back in Forks within twenty-four hours.

r_godsey~ I think you also touched upon something that wonders us all. Bella's visions are so right on, so completely what Edward woud, in fact, be saying (because we all know if he could have physically just picked her up and moved her he would have...)in those exact moments that it is downright frightening if you think about it. It honestly always amazes me that the girl never caught on earlier. Ach, as Edward says, so stubborn.

But, the other thing it brings to mind for me is the delusion she has while walking with Jacob. Bella is quite honestly shocked that she experiences an Edward delusion at that point, but later realizes exactly why she does and how dangerous Jacob could actually be to her. I just kind of scratch my head at her attitude about it. For someone so intelligent, she could be incredibly thick at times.

Well I have to say I'm kind of sad to find out that even according to Stephenie, there was no Edward involvement in her hallucinations.

I say this because I had found an Easter egg, a small line that was very easily over looked the first time I read the series.

And was overlooked even by my mother, whom had read the series 10+ times.

I have to say that I really caught this after I had read Midnight Sun. And had caught how easily Edward lied to Bella to protect her from the truth or to make it easier for him to do something. And had spied upon her when she believed she was alone.

Here is my big reveal of why I thought, Edward may have been there all along:

In New Moon on page 245, line 23 it reads:

" A cold breeze whipped through the meadow, swaying the grass like something was moving it."

Catching this my second read, this line elated me!

I knew that Edward was the fastest vampire, and she even refrences that when he moved it was a blur.I really believe that if Edward were to move at top speed, to the human eye he could be just about invisible.

I thought that possilby Alice saw Laurent's intention to visit Bella and warned Edward. But later in the book Alice is suprised there had been a vampire in forks, so that kind of dashed that idea. I understand that the wolves would have blocked her vision of the fight, but I think she would have seen Laurent visit.

I'm sad to hear that according to Stephenie he wasn't there. I don't know, I kind of think it's a little more romantic to think that Edward was weak. That his love for her couldn't keep him away from her. That he may have come to rescue her even without her knowledge, an act he wouldn't admit to his family. That his desire for her existance wouldn't stop him from returning.

What a bummer to find out that a line that describes a stiff breeze, actually only describes a stiff breeze.

*sigh*

Well I might know better, but I still believe in Santa Clausand I'm still gonna believe that Edward was lurking in the shadows.

r_godsey wrote:Well I have to say I'm kind of sad to find out that even according to Stephenie, there was no Edward involvement in her hallucinations.

What a bummer to find out that a line that describes a stiff breeze, actually only describes a stiff breeze.

*sigh*

Well I might know better, but I still believe in Santa Clausand I'm still gonna believe that Edward was lurking in the shadows.

I haven't read the passage in a while, but my gut feeling would be that Bella was feeling was Laurent's presence. To her, Laurent would be just as fast as Edward. She is only human after all. And, as Stephenie said, he never never never would have allowed Laurent to get any where near his beloved. And in fact, I'm pretty certain that the moment he was thru dispatching Laurent, he would have been back to grab Bella and get her the he** away from the wolves. They could have skipped the trip to Italy and lived happily ever after at the end of New Moon. But, then we would not be anxiously awaiting the release of Eclipse in theaters this June.

Something I've wondered is whether vampires' hair grows. They're in frozen states so does this include their hair growth? And do you think their hair is really strong? Like be really hard to cut? So the hairstyle they had when they were changed is what they're stuck with? I wasn't sure if that was the reason behind Alice's hair; that she could not change it from the asylum cut or whether she kept it like that herself. It looks pretty good even if they were cutting her hair off because the thought her crazy.

Openhome wrote:For those of you into such things...Here is a little one-shot by one of my favorite canon fanfiction authors on exactly what we have been talking about -- Carlisle does the taxes. It's both timely to the discussion and to the time of year. If you think it's complicated for you to do taxes, try being Carlisle Cullen. Here is the link.

Form 1040 fanfiction...I've read this before and I agree what with all the dozens of Cullen's credit card someone from the family must have been doing the taxes. At first I thought it was Edward who does this kind of task but after reading this Carlisle is more fit to be doing it.

"Because each and every one of us needs our own personal brand of heroine."~Team Edward Forever~